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2024-10-29 19:42:56The mantises were everywhere, doing their things, which primarily involved making noises. Any child would discolor their pants if they were to be hearing such a noise, let alone be in the presence of such an overwhelming number of praying mantises.
The five humans, however, seemed alright with walking through their midst, without lowering their heads or bending their spines, until they came across the king of the zone.
The three-meter-tall praying mantis, the king of all the local mantises, just happened to be passing by. And all the nearby praying mantises had their antennas lowered in their king’s presence.
“That must be the king…” Rengen hurriedly said as the mantis king’s attention turned to the humans. “Lower your heads.”
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WHIT 183 - BLACK WELL
In the northern end of the mantis zone, dozens of mantis brought five people on top of leaves and dropped them off there on top of a hill next to a river and then left.The five people were none other than Fabby and Co.Tenzai was tossing away lots of dead ants, rats and rabbits from his storage space. These were all given to them by the mantises for winning against their king. Dropping them off at the northern end was an extra service.“Though we’ve wanted to head north-west, they brought us to the northern side,” Fabby said. “That means we don’t have to visit the Black Well.”“Actually if my estimation is correct, then the Black Well is not far from here,” said Rengen. “If you want Black Turmeric, we can get it ther
WHIT 184 - LADY WOLF
“I heard that the Black Well’s guard is a grandmaster,” Rengen said. “There’s just no way for us to steal before his eyes. Not even one gram.”“So the black turmeric grows inside the well, huh…” Fabby looked quite surprised. “Now I understand why that old fellow was sitting on top of it.”“These wolves he spoke of… you think they’re humans?” Rengen asked.“Most likely... They are sect members hunting others.““Why would a grandmaster allow such a thing in his presence?” Rengen wondered.“That’s not what we should be worried about,” Fabby was feeling tense. “Had the mantises not brought us in a different direction, what would have happened to us?”Rengen was startled upon hearing that. He totally forgot that they were supposed to come from the direction they were heading toward now.“We would have been ambushed,” Gossini said, her eyes oozing out coldness.When Tenzai heard that, he came to a decision. “If they’re really ambushing people who’re coming here for safety, then I have all t
WHIT 185 - THE WOLF TRIO
As the lightning spear tore its way through the flying swan and came to him, Edgar stepped to the side and let the spear strike the soil. After all, if he were to catch it, his hand would get burned. There was no need to go through that pain at least for the time being.As the crooked-faced lady was falling along with the swan, two more swans flew into their view, with two riders on them. One of those riders, a tall muscular man in his thirties, caught the lady safely. And then they fearlessly landed in front of Fabby and Co.Now that they were close, Fabby and others could see their faces clearly.One of them was Mazi Seconds, a tall muscular man in his thirties; he was carrying a shield on his back. The second was Dawa Ramen, a crooked-faced lady with a bow and arrow. The third one was Hiba Quinn, an extremely sho
WHIT 186 - THE WHIP
Edgar’s blade was at Dawa’s throat.With the head blown to bits, there was a dead body lying a few feet away from them. Though Dawa didn’t answer him how she did it, he realized that she took out a dead body from her storage space at the last second and used it as a shield.“Surrender, or the cutting continues,” Edgar bluntly said.“I won’t forgive you…” she started to scratch the ground with her right hand like she was going mad. “I won’t forgive you…” Suddenly, metallic spikes protruded out of her skin on her arm and blasted out in his direction.Edgar released drive, but the needle-like spikes penetrated his drive and pierced his body at many places. Luckily, they couldn’t pierce through his bone. Still, twelve spikes were lodged into his body. He grunted in pain, but then released excess drive and pushed the needles out of his body. Thin streams of blood flowed out of the holes. But the arrow in his shoulder was still there. He had to pull it out with his hand.Dawa’s body was c
WHIT 187 - THE SHIELD
Tenzai was fighting Mazi Seconds.Mazi was comfortably blocking all of Tenzai’s punches and kicks, and his shield was still on his back.And Mazi eventually had enough of it, “You have neither speed nor strength. If there is nothing else to show other than simple punches and kicks, allow me to show you my shield.” He took the shield off his back and slammed in Tenzai’s fist.BUDUM~~!!A shockwave released upon impact and Tenzai got blown back. Though he managed to land on his feet, he was left in shock and puzzlement because his ears were bleeding.Mazi smiled. “You have no idea what’s happening, do you? Know this. As long as I have this shield, even inner disciples will find it extremely hard to be able to defeat me.”Tenzai’s head was still mildly spinning. (Just what happened? I hit the shield, and I got sent back? And I’m bleeding, too?) “Where did you get your hands on such a treasure?”“A dying person doesn’t need to know,” he struck the base of the shield in the ground, and it
WHIT 188 - FOUR ON ONE
Before the smoke and dirt settled, Edgar attacked Mazi. He successfully landed his blade on Mazi’s chest, but to his surprise, his blade was repelled, forcing Edgar to move a few steps back.“Sonic Sphere!” a sphere of energy enveloped the neighborhood. Edgar felt like his ears were penetrated by a strange noise, and it uneased him. “Close!” The sphere shrank toward Edgar. He hastily sent some slashes at Mazi, but the sphere didn’t stop, and by the time it shrank, Edgar was bleeding through the ears and nose.A high-frequency sound erupted, and Edgar was lifted off his feet upon receiving the full impact of it. He coughed up more than a mouthful of blood. (Ugh! My ears! What the hell is this noise? I can’t hear anything!)Mazi pointed his finger at Edgar. “Fire—”Gossini snuck into his view and slashed her leg diagonally from bottom right. “Sky Splitter!”A flying slash of curving water erupted and struck him head-on from the ribs up to the top right of his face. The hot concentrated
WHIT 189 - THE OLD GUARD'S WAY
The beasts of the land and of the sky had been fighting at the medium-sized hill, still in an angered state.Meanwhile, Fabby and others had safely made it out unscatched, thanks to the team leader making a safe underground tunnel in time.Neither of them were feeling sad because they had failed the mission the old man at the Black Well had given them. Rather, they were glad that nothing worse happened. After the recent battle was really tense, and they weren’t sure how it’d end.Now, they weren’t all that disappointed, except maybe for Tenzai.They were all heading back to Black Well, with Tenzai carrying Rengen in his arms. Though Rengen shouldn’t be moving around, they had no other choice.Fabby turned around once and put her hands on the soil. Soon, earth rose out of the ground from before her and headed to the hill like a landslide and split the fighting beasts into two groups and forcibly dispersed them.Seeing that the other four were surprised. Tenzai was surprised the most. (
WHIT 190 - THE TRIBULATION
After escaping from the old guard at the black well, Fabby and others headed east, straight to the Great Valley Inn.On their way, Fabby prepared a herbal paste and applied it to Edgar’s wounds, especially the ones given by Dawa’s needles. Though Edgar had temporarily closed off the wounds by burning the wounds, the pain was still there.On one hand, they had to rush in order to get Rengen treated. On the other hand, there was still a lot of distance they had to cover, and even though the beasts they came across so far weren’t that dangerous, it was still a new territory for everyone in the ground, so they were covering distance at a medium pace.They went through the Deer Grove, Buff Swamps, and Bear Bushery without much of a problem.Currently, they were in the Ape Fall, a pretty famous place among the sect members, because the apes would let people pass as long as bananas and other similar sweet food was offered.However, they didn’t come across any apes, and rather, the place was
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- WHIT
272 - CLOSED BOOK
Edgar woke up, only to find himself in a pool of mud. He could feel that he was being healed by fish that were swimming in the mud and were nibbling at his skin.At first sight, it might look like they were eating him, but they were actually taking away the negative energy from his body, though he was not able to feel that.Edgar tried to grab one of those fishes, but they turned into pure mud, pleasantly surprising him.He looked at Fabby who was sitting in the distance, by the cliff. “What are these fishes, sis?”“Elder Gavin made them with his drive. He said they can suck away impurities from your body and make you stronger,” Fabby explained. “He said even your drive will get smoother and faster afterward. Also, the negative effect the beast cores have on our bodies can also be reversed, or so he said.”“Such a thing is possible with drive?” Edgar was both surprised and doubtful. “These fish are biting me, but I don’t feel any pain.”“Yeah. Just stay there until all those fish are
- WHIT
271 - DAY BY DAY
The eagle brought the siblings to a mountain range and dropped them next to Gavin who was weaving gloves with drive.He wasn’t surprised to see the position the siblings were in.“Here,” Gavin handed the gloves to the eagle, and it put the gloves on its feet and then screeched in happiness.“Haha, you like them, huh,” Gavin smiled. “They are durable as I knit them with my drive. So, don’t lose them.”Scree~!The eagle replied in a confident voice and then began to walk around happily in its new footwear.“They look like gloves, but they should be called socks, I guess?” Gavin wondered. “Ah, well, whatever…”Gavin then looked at the siblings, out of whom only Fabby was still conscious. She was trying to sit up, and it was taking her a while.“You don’t seem to have any external injuries. You are probably tired from using too much energy,” Gavin said. He sent a bullet of energy into her forehead, which didn’t hurt her but went straight into her brain and melted into it. This suddenly ga
- WHIT
270 - A DIFFERENCE TOO BIG
“Surfing Strike!’ Edgar’s foot viciously struck Ryu’s face and sent him flying high like a rotating paper fan. Any normal person would have had their head separated from their shoulders from that kick, but Ryu’s neck was flexible as well as sturdy as rubber.Ryu grabbed his head and stopped it from spinning before somersaulting and landing in the distance.“Huh?” Fabby was quite shocked by it. “Why is he not dead? Is he even human?”“His body is a bit special, you see,” Anarga smirked and then looked at Ryu. “But, hey, how could you get hit by that brat like that? You should be glad that there isn’t anyone else around, or it would have brought such shame.”Blood leaked from Ryu’s ruptured upper lip. He licked it and faintly smiled. “It’s been a while since I tasted my own blood.” His eyes turned red.“Oh, crap…” Anarga skipped backward. “You guys brought a disaster on yourself. When he goes into that frenzy mode, he’s unstoppable. Even I wouldn’t dare stand next to him because he can
- WHIT
269 - KNIGHT OF NIGHT
Anarga squeezed Edgar’s chest down, but when Edgar saw Ryu step toward his sister, he uttered, “Thunder Knight…”The ground beneath them cracked, and the air around them crackled. The very cliff itself vibrated in resonance with Edgar’s heartbeat.Anarga lost her balance just for a second. A double-edged lightning spear appeared in Edgar’s hand, and he thrust it right through her abdomen.She thought it would leave a hole in her, but it didn’t. However, it then electrocuted her to the point her clothes were half-burnt, and she looked like a semi-roasted grizzly bear.Ryu immediately clawed through the middle section of the spear and then took Anarga and jumped a few feet away. “How could you be so careless?”Anarga fell on one of her knees. Blood leaked from both corners of her mouth, even though she tried not to leak any blood.“Does it hurt that much?” Ryu asked.She gave him a glare.“I see…” Ryu then looked at Edgar, who was rising off the ground without the use of his hands, as th
- WHIT
268 - DRAGON THAT DEVOURS ALL FLAMES
Anarga’s body went into the rock, causing cracks all around her to spread for over thirty feet.Ryu’s feet were still locked by the earthen boots that Fabby had created, but he forcefully broke through them and whipped his leg at Edgar. “Dragon Knock!”“Ngh!” Edgar raised his left arm and blocked the kick with his forearm.Ryu’s foot forced its way through Edgar’s flame drive and struck his forearm and hit a nerve, sending a jolt of shock through to Edgar’s brain. On top of that, Edgar’s forearm got dislocated near the elbow.Ryu’s kick still sent a gust of energy over into the distance, which ended up blasting away a part of the cliff, shocking Fabby and Edgar.Fabby’s heart shook at that moment because if Edgar hadn’t deflected that kick, he wouldn’t have just got his arm dislocated. It was Edgar’s hunter-like instinct of parrying the kick at the last second was what saved him from experiencing a crushing defeat.Ryu didn’t even use drive. Whether he could even use drive or not, Edg
- WHIT
267 - HOTTER THAN FIRE
“Is this the best you can do?” Ryu said disappointedly. “I know you can do better, bald brat.” He treated Edgar as nothing more than a kid because he was much older than him. “Why don’t you show me what you got, or I’ll kill this bald girl.”Edgar, who was bleeding profusely from the chest, felt his soul stirring madly after hearing Ryu’s words.“Don’t listen to him,” Fabby said in a low voice. “We are not their match. Fighting them will only put us at a disadvantage. And there’s no one else here to stop the fight in case things go bad. It doesn’t benefit us in any way no matter how I look at it. Moreover, you are already badly injured.”Fabby’s words made total sense, but there was one thing that she didn’t consider. Edgar just couldn’t digest let alone accept the fact that Anarga Utsav had used her wind attack and pushed Fabby off the cliff. What if Fabby died from that?Edgar utterly disliked Anarga as well as Ryu. He didn’t want them to leave with a sense of victory.“Sis,” Edgar
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266 - PERSONAL MISSION
“AHHH!” The siblings cried out in horror, mostly because of the pure shock value. Their eyes sprang out of the sockets. They totally didn’t expect that the eagle would do such a thing.Edgar was about to use his skill, but Fabby quickly said, “No, wait.”“Huh? Wait for what?” Edgar asked her back as winds viciously whipped at their faces.“Just wait,” she replied. As both of them kept getting closer to the ground, Edgar’s heart raced fast. “Screw this. I’m-” he was saying, but then the eagle suddenly came swooping down and caught both of them when they were about 100ft close to the ground and took them away with him.Edgar and Fabby held onto its talons so they wouldn’t fall.The eagle stopped by another mountain top and acted as if everything was okay.“You think I’ll thank you for saving our asses, you shitty bird!” Fabby punched the eagle hard in the face. “I thought I was going to die! You were the cause for scaring me near to death.”Even Edgar looked angry. His heart jumped in
- WHIT
265 - LOVE AND DUTY
Coming back to the present.The eagle had no idea who Edgar was, so Fabby had to do all the work except for flying. “Where is he?”She was worried for many reasons.The eagle even flew over the colosseum grounds, and she shouted for him, “Are you there, Eddie?”“Who’s that?” some masters and disciples wondered as she wasn’t clearly visible from below. “How rude of her to be flying over this place when the competition is still going on?”“He’s not here, either,” Fabby told the eagle to keep flying.As she kept looking around, she noticed someone bathing in an open pond. Just when she looked at him, he also looked up. She remembered his face mask. This was the same guy she met in a cave not long ago.Numo was not wearing a shirt right now, and his body was pristine white. It wasn’t muscular, but it still looked athletic and toned. It was very attractive, especially because he was a tall man.“Ahem,” Fabby looked away.After the eagle flew out of his sight, Numo continued rubbing his body
- WHIT
264 - THORNS AND THISTLES II
Months turned to years.Even though working in the fields had become a daily habit, so did the body pains. If not feet, then legs; if not legs, then back; if not back, then something else in the body took the turn. And by the time they got home, they were pretty tired, yet they wouldn’t be able to eat what they had produced or found.They were only given a limited amount of food such as corn or grains so they could make soup and live with it. The same plain soup with no vegetables in them whatsoever waited for them every night. And they were not paid anything else for their labor, for they were forced to work for the rest of their lives. There was no contract. Nothing. They were pretty much treated like cattle, or maybe even worse, with the only difference being their ability to talk. No matter how they were treated, they still worked hard, for most of them had reasons, be it their children and families.Fabby had Edgar, and Edgar had Fabby. Everyone had someone else they were willing
